I'm a sucker for "catchy" tunes. Did you ever hear of an "earworm?" An earworm is a catchy tune that once implanted in your brain (via the ear), stays with you, usually until it's replaced with another one. An example is the infamous "Oscar Meyer Weiner" theme. During the mid-sixties I was working on an assembly line at Ford Motor Company in Chicago Heights, Illinois. I don't know if you're familiar with assembly line work but it sometimes get pretty monotonous and generally doesn't require a lot of thought, just a lot of repetition. One day I was running behind and rushing to work (I worked the 3 p.m. - midnite shift). The factory had a giant parking lot and the "prime spots" were taken by the management people and early birds (of which I was neither). I pulled into a spot about a quarter-mile from the entry door. As I was pulling into this spot, my AM radio (cars didn't have FM's in those days) played the always popular OMW theme song. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it goes like this:
“Well I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner,
That is what I’d really like to be,
‘cause if I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner
Everyone would be in love with me.”
Obviously this song makes no sense since everyone knows the life expectancy of a weiner and the cause of it's eventual demise! I can just picture some clown finding a magic bottle along a deserted stretch of beach, rubbing it, a genie appears and offers to make any wish come true and this nincompoop says "I wish I could be an Oscar Meyer Weiner." Man....GET A LIFE!!! Unfortunately, making sense is not what a theme song is about. It's designed to be as simple as possible so it can enter your brain (via your ear) and remain there until another one takes it's place. Hence the term "earworm." For the next 10 hours this song clouded my poor and limited brain. It was tortuous. I couldn't get it out of my mind no matter what. The only thing that saved me was that later on when I was driving home, the song came over the radio, "You'll Wonder Where the Yellow Went When You Brush Your Teeth with Pepsodent!" What a great song to go to bed on!
I can still see Dinah Shore and Pat Boone belting out "See the USA....in your Chev - ro - let!" How about "Hold the Pickle, Hold the Lettuce...Special Orders Don't Upset Us....Just as long as you will let us Serve It Your Way!" or "You Deserve a Break Today...So Get Up and Get Away...To McDonald's!" For some reason, when I think of "getting up" and "getting away," McDonald's is not what comes to mind!
Actually, a song doesn't have to be an advertisement to become an earworm. How many generations can sing the theme to "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch?" Even instrumentals get hung in your brain. Think of the themes from "Dragnet" (DUM-DE-DUM-DUM) or "Peter Gunn," or Hawaii Five-O. The cool thing about instrumental earworms is that you'll catch yourself performing everyday chores and making up corresponding words to go along with the tunes.
An example is "GET THE LAWN MOWER -- GET THE LAWN MOWER, NOW!" (sung to the Dragnet Theme) or "GOIN TO THE GROCERY STORE -- GOIN TO THE GROCERY STORE" to the tune of "Peter Gunn" (use your imagination).
I read in the paper the other day where one of the members of the Kingston Trio died (heckuva note....nobody knew his name -- I'll bet his obituary read "name unknown - member of the Kingston Trio"). Anyway, they were a great group for creating "earworms." Remember "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley?" or "I don't give a damn about a Green-Back Dollar?" That one was banned from radio for a long time because of the use of the word "damn" in it. In some of the rap songs played today, "damn" is the kindest word in the song. I wonder if any "hip-hop" listeners get earworms from that music? Can you imagine going to work on an assembly line and having "Kill a Cop, Kill a Cop, Kill a M.F. Cop" play over and over in your head?
Finally, I'll leave you with this thought: "Bee-Bop A Lulu, She's my Ba-by....Bee-Bop A Lulu, I don't mean May-be! Bee-bop A Lulu, She's my Ba-by Now!"
Good luck getting it out of your head!
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